An important meeting with the history of Vienna

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We are often very occupied with the things we have to do the whole day. We run through our cities that we know and only have our destination in mind. While we walk over the tile on the floor where history happened we think about where we are going to eat after the meeting we have in five minutes.

I am late for my meeting as always because I did my preparation on the stairs of the Heldenplatz, (Square of Heroes) in Vienna. I think about my introductory sentences while my view crosses the place where the ancient city wall stood. Maybe I should have a cup of Coffee before I enter the meeting? Unknowingly I look at the place where the ancient city wall was blown up when Napoleon attacked the City in 1809. It must have been a terrible chaos, but today I see tourists and businesspeople rushing all over the place.

I stand up because I decided I will have a coffee.I walk into the direction of where the Emperors Forum of Emperor Franz (I) was planned but never finished. I have no Idea about that right now, because I think of what kind of coffee I am going to order.

In the distant I can see the Monument for Maria-Theresia by Kaspar von Zumbusch at the Maria-Theresien Place. I do not really notice it, but I notice that the sky has a beautiful blue colour today and that I should not enter the meeting with a coffee in my hand. Maybe that would seem unprofessional.

I turn around and think that now I am going to be late for the meeting. I pass the outer gate of the Burg, (the Emperors Castle) that was designed in 1824 by Peter von Nobile in honour of the fallen heroes in the Napoleonic wars.

I start to rush a bit and get annoyed by all the tourist that are blocking the way, staring at old things that do not matter to me today. I do not really have time for this, but I still ask myself what the people do there. My meeting right now is way more important than the “memorial for the executives” that was designed by Florian Schaumberg and revealed in 2002 for the fallen policemen of Austria.

Especially crowded is the Area around the Leopoldinean Part of the castle that serves now as the Office of the Austrian Chancellor and has been a centre of political happenings of Austria and Europe since the 18. Century designed by Johan Lucas von Hildebrandt. But what do I care?

Finally I arrive at the dark place of history in a location that seems so bright right now flooded with sunlight. At that exact point Adolf Hitler was standing, announcing Austria as part of the German Reich on 15. March 1938. I think to myself that maybe it is healthier if I drink more tea then coffee anyways.

Speech Adolf Hitler on 15 March 1938 at the cheering crowds at the Wiener Heldenplatz

I find a gap in the crowd and continue to rush to the meeting, thinking to myself: “what a boring day”.

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